Human Trafficking

A collaboration of nearly 30 Cleveland-area health, social service and law enforcement agencies have unveiled a campaign to raise awareness of human trafficking. Signs saying “Human Trafficking Happens Here Too” will start going up around Greater Cleveland today. The launch is timed to correspond with the upcoming Republican National Convention.

There were more than 200 people identified as potential human trafficking victims in Ohio last year – nearly all of them female, and more than a quarter of them under 18. Those are the latest stats from a report presented to the state's task force on human trafficking.

The number of potential victims is up slightly over last year’s report. But officials say there’s a detail that explains that.

“It absolutely is the case that increased awareness yields more people being helped, ” said Ohio's human trafficking coordinator Elizabeth Ranade-Janis.

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman says a cultural change is needed to draw attention to the problem of underage victims of sex trafficking.

Portman says that while laws have been updated to reflect the reality of children forced into prostitution, everyone from police to prosecutors to judges to the public need to understand the nature of the crime.

Portman said Thursday after a human trafficking roundtable in Columbus that he hears from constituents who can't believe that underage trafficking is happening in Ohio.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is pledging continued help and resources in his second term to fight human trafficking.

Kasich told advocates and lawmakers gathered at the Statehouse on Thursday that much has been accomplished to combat the illegal trade of human beings for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, but more can be done.

Human trafficking victims often are prostituted or forced into sweatshop-type jobs.

It’s estimated that more than 1,000 in Ohio are victims of sex-trafficking each year. 300,000 children nationwide are considered to be at high risk. Those numbers are galvanizing politicians, police agencies and other organizations to raise awareness about the war on human trafficking.

On Wednesday, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services announced the creation of a network of first responders that will assist victims of human trafficking. to do that, the state will work with the Ohio Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers.

The announcement was made at Michael’s House in Fairborn – a place where abused children can get counseling, mental health and medical services, in a comforting environment. Michael’s House is one of 24 Children’s Advocacy Centers the state is now working with.

The state of Ohio is spending nearly $50,000 to launch a campaign to raise awareness of the problem of human trafficking.

Gov. John Kasich said Wednesday that the state is working with a Hudson public relations firm to develop a "multi-pronged outreach and education campaign" that is expected to be introduced before the end of the year.